TWS embraces bolder romance with 5th EP ‘No Tragedy’

Boy group TWS returned Monday with a more direct take on youth and romance for its fifth EP, “No Tragedy” — a release that pushes its bright “boyhood pop” identity into a bolder emotional space.

The six-member group — Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae, Hanjin, Jihoon and Kyungmin — introduced the album at a press showcase held at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul.

According to Pledis Entertainment, “No Tragedy” marks a shift from the group’s earlier fresh, boyish energy to a more assertive love story. Drawing loosely from Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in “Romeo and Juliet,” the album imagines TWS not as boys defeated by fate, but as “star-crushing lovers” who move forward to claim their own happy ending and love.

“If we previously showed fresh and youthful energy through our songs, this time, we wanted to express the emotions of youth more honestly and boldly,” said Youngjae. “We wanted to show a more direct kind of emotion.”

Jihoon said the group sought to maintain its core identity while finding new ways to present itself to listeners.

“We thought a lot about how to maintain what people know as TWS, but still make it feel fresh,” he said. “We then thought of exploring a variety of genres in this album, including those we haven’t worked with before, to give listeners a varied listening experience.”

The album’s main track “You, You” is a house-based pop song with R&B textures, built around a catchy hook and a direct confession to a dreamlike love interest. Dohoon, who participated in writing the lyrics, said he worked to immerse himself in the feeling of falling deeply in love before putting words to it.

"I watched romance films and dramas that matched the theme and imagined different scenes while writing," he said.

Jihoon also noted that the track was the group’s first attempt to sing about love in depth.

“We sat together in the practice room and talked about what love really means to us and how we define it,” said Jihoon. “After many discussions, we found the answer in our fans, 42, and how they look at us when we perform on stage.”

That exploration of love carries across the album’s six tracks, which span genres including house, hyperpop, hip-hop, R&B, funk and rock. The emotional range of the record also reflects the group’s current stage, with all six members now having reached adulthood.

"It’s the first album we’re presenting as adults,” said Kyungmin. “Now that all of us have come of age, we think we can show a wider range of sides moving forward, beyond the fresh boyhood image we previously showed.”

The EP also arrives with strong commercial momentum, surpassing 1.16 million preorders as of Friday, nearly doubling the 648,182 copies tallied for its predecessor "Play Hard" six months ago. The group also set its personal best first-day sales record, selling 833,138 copies as of Monday.

Leader Shinyu said the milestone came as both a surprise and motivation for TWS.

“We were all shocked and happy to hear that preorders had surpassed 1 million,” he said. “But we don’t see it as just a number or something to just celebrate. It feels like a new sense of motivation from our fans, and it makes us want to work even harder.”

Across the six-track album, members Dohoon, Youngjae and Hanjin took part in writing lyrics, adding what the group described as a more personal touch to the record.

“I wanted to include the stories and emotions between TWS and 42 through the lyrics of the songs in this album,” said Hanjin, who added that participating in songwriting had been one of his goals for 2026. “I studied Korean hard while preparing for this album so that my emotions would be portrayed accurately. I’m happy that I was able to participate.”

Youngjae, who contributed lyrics to the B-side “Fire Escape,” said he drew inspiration from books, dramas and music playlists, including “Romeo and Juliet” as well as characters Fiyero and Elphaba from “Wicked,” to capture the song’s theme of finding certainty in someone who becomes a kind of rescuer.

For TWS, the album is not a departure from its signature freshness, but an expansion of it.

“We’ve always centered our music on our message while widening the spectrum of our own genre, boyhood pop,” Jihoon said. “Through this album, we wanted to show that youth can also be honest, bold and direct.”

Shinyu summed up the group’s aim for the comeback in line with the album’s title.

“Like the album name ‘No Tragedy,’ we want to deliver happiness and positivity without being defeated by tragedy,” he said.